Support device



y 0 1963 w. M. BURRIS 3,099,101

SUPPORT DEVICE Filed April 24, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR WWW ATTORNEYS July 30, 1963 w. M. BURRIS 3,099,101

SUPPORT DEVICE Filed April 24, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR W W W ATTORNEY July 30, 1963 w. M. BURRIS 3,099,101

SUPPORT DEVICE Filed April 24, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 zz l "flfj/ a M] u l 1 4 5 46 45 61 k [I I S 47 l 47 l i 1 45 l 54 1a f-z 7 5' ATTORNEYS y 0, 1963 w. M. BURRIS 3,099,101

SUPPORT DEVICE Filed April 24, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR 11/11/407 WEueE/S ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,099,)! SUPPUR'I DEVHIE William M. Burris, N. Main St. Extension, Andersen, S.C. Filed Apr. 24, 1959, Ser. No. 893,319 Claims. (t'll. 45-82) This invention relates to devices for supporting score cards and like information material as on a table or the like and is particularly concerned with such a device of special construction for ready mounting, removal or shifting with respect to the table.

In its preferred embodiment the invention will be described as a device for mounting score pads on a bridge table, but of course other uses are available. Essentially the device comprises a lower mounting portion adapted to fit upon the table edge, and an inclined pad supporting portion where the pad is placed in full view of the person seated at the table.

It is therefore the major object of the invention to provide a novel support device for ready mounting on and detachment from a bridge table or the like of simple frame construction and having a pad exhibiting platform above the table surface.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a rigid substantially integral frame support device formed at its lower end with a socket structure to fit upon a table edge and having an upper portion providing an inclined pad or like supporting platform.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a rigid frame support device having a lower U-shaped socket portion for mounting on a table edge and an upper pad supporting portion that is inclined with respect to the socket portion.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel rigid wire frame support device formed at its lower end with a U-shaped mounting socket and having a pad supporting portion inclined rearwardly from the open front end of the socket.

Further objects of the invention will appear as the description proceeds in connection with the appended claims and the annexed drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front substantially perspective view of a support device according to an embodiment of the invention shown in its intended position of use on a table illustrated in phantom lines;

FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 are front elevational, side elevational and top plan views respectively of the support device of FIGURE 1 apart from the table;

FIGURE 5 is a front substantially perspective view like FIGURE 1 but showing another embodiment of support device;

FIGURES 6, 7 and 8 are-front elevational, side elevational and top plan views respectively of the support device of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 9 is a front elevation of another form of the invention wherein the socket is adjustable;

FIGURE 10 is a section on line 1t 1ti of FIGURE 9;

FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary end elevation showing a modification of the form of FIGURES 9 and 10; and

FIGURES l2 and 13 are side and front elevations of an embodiment wherein the device is mounted on a table top.

Referring to FIGURES 1-4 the support device 11 is a rigid wire frame fitted over the edge of a table 12. The device 11 consists essentially of a bottom U-shaped socket portion 13 and an upper pad supporting portion 14.

The socket 13 is formed of a single length of stiff but resilient wire bent intermediate its ends to form terminal nose 16 on the lower leg 17 of the U-shaped socket. Leg 17 consists further of two substantially parallel arms 18 extending rearwardly from nose 16.

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At their rear ends arms 18 are turned upwardly substantially at right angles to provide side arms 19 of the socket bridge 21. At their upper ends arms 19 are turned forwardly substantially at right angles to form side arms 22 of the upper socket leg 23 which is generally parallel to lower leg 17.

Thus a resilient U-shaped socket is provided having a forwardly open mouth 24- (FIGURE 3) and upper and lower spring legs 17 and 23.

At their forward ends the arms 22 are turned upwardly and rearwardly so as to provide side-by-side arms 25 lying in a plane (FIGURE 3) but slightly diverging in that plane from bottom to top (FIGURE 2). At their upper ends arms 25 are rigidly bridged by an arm 26 welded thereto. If desired arm 26 may be an integral extension of one arm 25 welded at its free end to the top of the other arm 25. The plane of arms 25 extends at a suitable angle, for example about 60, to the plane of arms 22 and the dimensions are such as to locate arm 26 substantially vertically above the socket bridge 21 so as to provide a balanced structure.

As shown in FIGURE 1 the arms 22 lie on the table when the device is used. A suitable distance above arms 22, usually several inches, a cross bar wire 27 extends between arms 25 and therebeyond (FIGURE 2) at least as far laterally outwardly as the upper ends of arms 25, and the outer ends 28 of bar 27 are turned forwardly at substantially right angles to provide parallel platform arms 29 lying in the same plane which, as shown in FIGURE 3, is perpendicular to the plane of arms 25 but tilted slightly with respect to the horizontal.

Arms 29 are of equal length and at their outer ends are turned upwardly at about ninety degrees to provide equal length stop fingers 31. As shown in FIGURE 2, arms 29 and fingers 31 lie substantially in vertical planes containing the ends of bar 26.

Preferably bar 27, arms 28 and fingers 31 are formed of an integral stiff wire welded onto arms 25. Bridge arm 26 and cross bar 27 are parallel and lie in essentially horizontal planes.

In use the device is fitting over the edge of a table 12, with the resilient legs of socket 13 gripping top and bottom surfaces of the table. A usual rectangular score pad 32 with the cur-rent score marked on the top sheet is laid upon the upper part of the device with its lower edge resting on arms 29 and forwardly confined by stop fingers 21 and its rear side resting on arms 25 and 26. It will be noted that the base platform provided at 29 is laterally as wide as the upper part of the structure. Further, with reference to FIGURE 3 it will be seen that the rearward tilt of the upper part of the device locates the load of the pad in a position where it exerts a slight torque tending to increase the holding action of the socket on the table. A pencil 32 also may rest across platform arms 29.

Preferably the wire surfaces of the socket and a short distance up arms 25 are suitably covered or coated with a smooth or cushion material at 30 that will not mar the table surface and in some cases provides a smooth friction grip on those surfaces. For example, cover 39 may be a tube of polyethylene or equivalent plastic threaded over the wire before bending.

FIGURES 58 show another embodiment having a different socket structure to suit a variety of different table tops. The upper pad supporting portion 34- is essentially the same as in FIGURES 1-4 and similar parts are designated by similar reference numerals.

In this embodiment, instead of arms 22 extending down and forwardly to define the socket 33, arms 22 terminate and are bridged by a stiff resilient cross wire 35 parallel to bar 27. The outer ends of bar 35 are bent downwardly and outwardly to provide diverging curved equal length side arms 36 lying in a substantially vertical plane at right angles to the plane of the upper socket leg. At their lower ends arms 36 are turned at right angles forwardly to provide short arms 37 in a plane defining the lower socket leg. Each arm 37 terminates in a reversely bent portion 38, and the lower socket leg is only about one-half as long as the upper leg.

The proportions are such that a plane containing arm 26 and the bent ends 28 of the lower socket arm substantially bisects the upper socket leg arms 22.

The foregoing construction enables the lower socket arm to adapt itself to certain table structures not available to the earlier embodiment, and it provides a somewhat wider socket structure wherein the separate arms 37 may fit over table sections of different thickness while etaining the upright relationship of the pad support platorm.

It will be appreciated that the device may be made of sheet metal instead of wire or partly of sheet metal and wire suitably fabricated. For example the pad and pencil mounting portion at the upper end consisting of cross bar 27 and fingers 3-1, the upper ends of arms 25 above bar 27 and the arm 26 may be replaced by a substantially J-shaped piece of sheet metal welded onto the arms 25.

Further the socket structure may be such as to provide for adjustment to fit different thickness table tops. One embodiment of such is shown in FIGURES 911.

In FIGURES 9 and 10 the upper pad mounting end of the structure is essentially a J-shaped panel of sheet metal 41 having a rear wall 42 aligned with and welded upon the ends of arms 25' which are upward and rearward extensions of arms 22' of the upper socket leg. At its lower end wall 42 is forwardly turned to provide platform 43 and then upwardly to provide stop finger 44, similar to the corresponding parts of the other embodiments.

In this embodiment the rear portion of the socket is a U-shaped strip of stiff metal 45 having a bridge 46 welded across the ends of arms 25 and downturned parallel arms 47 which are longitudinally slotted at 48. Vertically slidable but non-rotatable in slots 48 are clamp members 49 each comprising an abutment 51 larger than the width of slot 48, a threaded stud 52 on which is a nut 53 opposite abutment 1. The inner nose 54 of each member 49 is upturned to engage the table region, and by resting arms 22 on the table top and sliding members 49 up until noses 54 engage the table bottom and then tightening nuts 53 the device is secured in position. This socket is not resilient.

FIGURE 11 illustrates a variation of FIGURES 9 and 1-1 wherein the socket member 45' has a series of apertures 55 to receive the clamp members, rather than continuous slots 'as in FIGURE 9.

FIGURES 12 and 13 illustrate an embodiment of the invention wherein the upper pad mounting portion is essentially the same as in FIGURES 18 but wherein the lower portion, instead of being a socket, is formed to fit into a recess on the table top.

In this embodiment arms 22 extend rearwardly as in the other embodiments in angular relation to the inclined pad support portion, but here the ends of equal length arms 22 are bent downwardly as shown in FIGURE 12 and toward each other as shown in FIGURE 13. These diverging arms 56 provide a mounting portion 57 extending angularly downwardly from arms 22, preferably at a slight angle forwardly so that the plane of portion 57 is parallel to the plane of pad mounting portion 34.

At their lower ends arms 56 come together in a rounded tip 58 which is preferably covered by a friction button 59 of rubber or the like adapted to fit into a smooth upwardly open socket recess 61 in the top of the table 62.

Recess 61 may be a small diameter smooth cylindrical the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A support for mounting on bridge tables and the like to prevent score pads or the like to the view of those about the table comprising a frame consisting essentially of a lower portion adapted to be attached to the table and a rigid upper pad or like article carrying portion,

said upper portion comprising downwardly converging frame side arms that are rigidly connected at their upper ends, an article mounting platform rigidly extending across the side arms near their lower ends and projecting laterally therebeyon'd and terminating in forwardly extending arms, the lower ends of said side arms being rearwardly turned to provide generally horizontal arms and said side arms lying in a plane that is inclined at an acute angle to extend rearwardly of the juncture between said side arms and said horizontal arms, and means attaching the upper end of said table attachment portion to the rear ends of said generally horizontal arms.

2. An article display support for detachable connection to a table or the like comprising a wire frame having downwardly converging side arms lying substantially in a plane, an article platform mounted transversely across said arms, said arms being rearwardly bent below said platform to provide parallel substantially horizontal upper socket leg members lying substantially in a plane, a socket bridge rigid with the rear ends of said upper socket leg members, and lower socket leg members extending forwardly from the bridge, said socket being forwardly open to embrace a table edge, the plane of said side arms being inclined upwardly and away from the open end of said socket and said platform being on the forward side of said frame arms.

3. The support defined in claim 2, wherein said socket bridge and lower leg members are integral extensions of the upper socket leg members.

4. The support defined in claim 2, wherein said socket bridge and lower leg members are formed of an integral length of metal rigidly secured across the rear ends of the upper socket leg members.

5. The support defined in claim 2, wherein said platform is a length of metal rigidly secured to and extending laterally beyond said arms, and the outer ends of said length of metal are bent forwardly and then upwardly to support the lower end of the article to be mounted thereon. 1

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 860,397 Lyman July 16, 1907 869,110 Tibbetts Oct. 22, 1907 1,070,280 Morey Aug. 12, 1913 1,942,456 Stark Jan. 9, 1934 2,071,155 Alexander Feb. 16, 1937 2,235,986 Ellington Mar. 25, 1941 2,286,831 Ressinger June 16, 1942 2,592,252 De Coste Apr. 8, 1952 2,807,369 Stark Sept. 24, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 18,380 Great Britain Aug. 3, 1910 

2. AN ARTICLE DISPLAY SUPPORT FOR DETACHABLE CONNECTION TO A TABLE OR THE LIKE COMPRISING A WIRE FRAME HAVING DOWNWARDLY CONVERGING SIDE ARMS LYING SUBSTANTIALLY IN A PLANE, AN ARTICLE PLATFORM MOUNTED TRANSVERSELY ACROSS SAID ARMS, SAID ARMS BEING REARWARDLY BENT BELOW SAID PLATFORM TO PROVIDE PARALLEL SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL UPPER SOCKET LEG MEMBERS LYING SUBSTANTIALLY IN A PLANE, A SOCKET BRIDGE RIGID WITH THE REAR ENDS OF SAID UPPER SOCKET LEG MEMBERS, AND LOWER SOCKET LEG MEMBERS EXTENDING FORWARDLY FROM THE BRIDGE, SAID SOCKET BEING FORWARDLY OPEN TO EMBRACE A TABLE EDGE, THE PLANE OF SAID SIDE ARMS BEING INCLINED UPWARDLY AND AWAY FROM THE OPEN END OF SAID SOCKET AND SAID PLATFORM BEING ON THE FORWARD SIDE OF SAID FRAME ARMS. 